Women's Basketball Stuns No. 13 Mary Washington, 56-53

St. Thomas (12/29/08) – Coming off a win over the No. 1 team in the country, No. 13 University
of Mary Washington got bit by the upset bug, losing to Montclair State,
56-53.

Montclair
was scheduled to play Elizabethtown College, but the Blue Jays were
delayed in their arrival in St. Thomas and the schedule was flipped.
MSU will face Elizabethtown on Tuesday.

The
Red Hawks' (6-4) upset prayers were answered after a pivotal final
minute in the second game of the Division III Sunsational Hoops Classic
gave them one last chance with less than five seconds to play.

With the game knotted at 50 points a piece, the Red Hawks' Jackie Berry (Tuckerton, NJ / Pinelands Regional) hit a jumper under the basket while getting fouled and made the ensuing free throw to give MSU the lead with 1:06 to play.

After
a couple turnovers UMW got the ball back and with 4.6 seconds left,
Katy Larson was fouled attempting a 3-point shot. She made all three
free throws to tie the game back up and force Montclair to throw up a
prayer.

That they did.

Montclair's
inbounds pass, which looked like a Hail Mary pass in football, was
tipped and nearly went out of bounds. There to recover it though was
the Hawks' Jaime Ericson (Flemington, NJ / Hunterdon Central).

Ericson
took the ball, turned around, and threw up a 3-pointer that swished
right through the net and gave the Hawks' their sixth victory of the
season.

Ericson finished with 12 points and made two 3-pointers in the game. Berry had 10 points and four assists.

Montclair started the game building a big 10-3 lead, but by the half, the Eagles had come back to tie the game up at 28.

Mary Washington then took a big lead in the second half after an 8-0 run. The Red Hawks began their comeback thanks to Catherine Cristino (Farmingdale, NJ / Colts Neck), who scored nine straight points for MSU.

Cristino finished with a game-high 13 points.

For
UMW, Ashton Mitchell had a team-high 12 points and Rachel Martin had
nine points. Katie Wimmer contributed with five points and nine
rebounds.

For MSU, Kisandra Ayanbeku (Burlington, MA / Randolph) had four points and a game-high 14 rebounds.